During the depletion workouts, I found it easier to include more machines vs. free weights. The first week I used all DB's and barely made it through the first cycle.

How are you dividing the depletion workouts? I used what he recommended and went through 3 sets of 15-20 per muscle, saved legs for last, then repeated. I tried doing 6 sets straight per muscle once and barely made it halfway through. Felt like I was going to fall asleep while on the verge of puking.

Darkhorse's Sig:

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

I can be found at To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

i'd typically do 20-30min of cardio before each depletion workout. my strength was scheite for the workout, but that wasn't really the point of those workouts. i'd push the big weights during the power workout

I am just running the sample routine he has in the book, doing three sets of each 15-20 reps, then repeating it. I do legs first to get it out of the way. For some muscle groups I switch up movements for instance my first three sets for chest are flat bench, my second three are on the incline machine.
I also switch up bi/tri movements so I dont get bored, but legs always stay the same.

Quote:

i'd typically do 20-30min of cardio before each depletion workout. my strength was scheite for the workout, but that wasn't really the point of those workouts. i'd push the big weights during the power workout

I'll give that a go next week, although the depletions are hard enough without doing cardio first. Did you not do cardio the rest of the week?

hrdgain81's Sig:

I don't do this for my family, my friends, women, accolades, pride, or ego. I do it for me and no one else, its just part of who I am.

WRT to cardio, I would limit it at first. See how you progress for a couple of weeks, assess progress, and add in some cardio as needed. Towards the end of the diet, I did some cardio on depletion days as well as Wednesday.

311's suggestion on the machines is a good one. Also, don't stress too much about the Thursday carb load. Eat 2-3 carb up meals, then get the rest on Friday. It's more important to get the actual carb load goal than anything else.

The carb load kind of threw me off the first week. My numbers are insane, taking in 1200, an thats on the low end of the spectrum.

LOL, I was slamming 1800 grams in 30 hours!

It was super easy buying those Sara Lee Begals (blueberry) and dunking them in water between bites. Tastes sooo good. I usually ate one in between my meals without a problem. That was the best way I had to continue refeeding myself with carbs. I know Lyle speaks very highly of begals.